Yes, the time has finally arrived to potty train Daniel. We've been working on it for a week now and have made great progress. I had hoped we'd be completely trained for the daytime only wearing a pullup for naps, night time, and long trips away from the house. Unfortunately, it's not going quite to plan!I started with a 3 day plan by having Daniel in regular underwear keeping a close eye on him to redirect any accidents. I limited his access to various rooms in the house making it easier to watch him. No TV in his room only in the living room helped keep him in the living room, where we placed the potty seat. I didn't work on the laptop unless he was napping. I didn't clean much or cook much either-just played with him and watched him like a hawk.
Day one ended with out many accidents. He was slightly confused about the whole potty thing but Daniel was adjusting well! Day two, was a different story. I was feeling pretty confident last Friday night (Day 1) but by mid day Saturday I thought we'd be in diapers forever!!!! There were too many accidents to count. I'm not sure if it was cause big brother was home from school or just a natural progression of the potty train but it was the roughest day by far. The good thing is he discovered he didn't like the feeling of the wet undies so he'd come to me whining and standing funny (you know legs WIDE apart with this look of despair on his face-lol). At this point he wasn't showing me where his accident was so I'm off on a scavenger hunt. Exactly the kind of hunt mom LOVES!!!!
Sunday was better but just barely. We had accidents but he would show me where they were and would help clean them up. Our trips to the potty became more frequent and I would cheer, dance, clap my hands, give him a high five, etc EVERY time he went to the potty-even if he just sat there! A strange thing began to happen by Monday, day 4, Daniel discovers he doesn't have to deal with wet undies if he doesn't keep them on! So he's been running around half naked or completely naked. As quickly as I get those cute underoo's on him, he runs off to another room and strips. Next thing I know, he's running around buck naked!We're doing MUCH better today. He's addicted to the celebratory dances we do when he goes potty by himself. He enjoys helping dispose of his pee pee by flushing it away in the big potty and washing his hands. He still prefers to run around naked and we still need to work on doing #2 in the potty but we've made TREMENDOUS progress in the potty train! I'm hopeful it won't be long before we're completely free of diapers and pullups! The next step is getting him to keep his clothes on!
Here's a
few potty training tips I've been reminded of this past week:- Potty placement is crutial to successful training-the living room worked best for us but maybe your toddler's room or the bathroom would be better!
- Find the potty seat that works best for you. Maybe a singing one works best or a flushable chair would be better or perhaps a unrinal is the way to go!
- Don't force it, have fun with it-I know this sounds completely backwards but, keep in mind it won't last forever! Kids learn faster the more fun they have with the subject.
- Bribery works! We dance and sing afterwards, maybe yours will respond to stickers, candy, special drinks, etc. In this case, bribery is NOT wrong!
- Be patient! Kids pick up on mom's tension so if it gets too much, put the in a pull up for a few hours if you need to-it won't bring the world to an end!
- Speaking of pullups, don't use them unless their sleeping or you're going out. They're built too much like a diaper to encourage you little one to go to the potty.
- If things are just not progressing or he's resisting too much, maybe your little one's not ready for potty training. Take a break and start again in a few weeks.
Good luck to all you potty training parents out there. If anyone out there has any ideas on how I can get Daniel to keep his clothes on, I'd LOVE to hear them!